Computer communication networks enable multiple computers to communicate with one another to facilitate the exchange of information and to increase productivity. Such networks make a variety of computer services available to a user including databases, email, voicemail, scanners, and fax machines. Typically, a user is coupled to a network through a computer that is either a work station or a laptop. Increasingly, users are accessing computer communication networks through personal digital assistants (PDAs) and cellular telephones. These devices and laptop computers facilitate user mobility; however, they sometimes frustrate a user's ability to use a network efficiently.
One example of mobility impacting a user's effective use of service sites on a network occurs when a user travels from one local area network (LAN) to another LAN that the user may use. This type of mobility occurs when a user who may be typically stationed at a firm's home office travels to a branch location. Though the user may bring a PDA or laptop computer for coupling to the LAN at the branch, the user does not know what services sites are available through the branch network. Although authorized to access the branch LAN, the user does not know what service sites are coupled to the branch LAN, such as a scanner or shared printer, for example. Furthermore, the user does not know where any of the network service sites are located. Thus, even if the user is able to identify a service site and send a job to it, the user may not be able to find the service site to retrieve the finished product.
LANs may also be coupled together with a wide area network (WAN). In the scenario discussed above, the home office LAN and the branch LAN may be coupled together through a wide area network (WAN). The WAN may be the Internet or an enterprise operated WAN. Thus, a user coupled to the branch LAN may be able to access service sites coupled to the home office LAN through the WAN to obtain documents and other communications at the user's location on the branch LAN. Should the user need the information obtained from the home office LAN to be printed or formatted at the branch LAN for physical distribution at the branch office, the document needs to be routed to a service site, such as a printer, on the branch LAN. Only with the help of a branch LAN user who knows the locations of the available printers and the identifiers by which the printers are distinguished can the visiting user send the print job to the printer physically closest to the user's current location.
The visiting user's ability to employ effectively the resources on the branch LAN may be further frustrated by the lack of information regarding the capabilities of the resources on the branch LAN. For example, the visiting user may desire to print the documents in a color format, but may be unable to determine which of the printers, if any of them, on the branch LAN are color printers. The inability of mobile users to know where service devices are physically located for obtaining product from the devices and the lack of readily available knowledge regarding the capabilities of service devices on an unfamiliar network adversely impact effective utilization of a network.
In an effort to make some information regarding the identification of service sites available to users, directory entries may be available on the network or information may be posted in hard copy form at an access point for the network. However, such static information may quickly become dated and no longer accurately identify locations, capabilities, or the types of devices available at service sites. The topology and implementation of computer networks are fluid, both expanding and shrinking to accommodate new equipment and users as they are added and subtracted from the network.